More Catering (Are you full yet?)

As I put in the last post, we had experienced a successful tasting with the caterer I had found. I decided to dig out the requirements that the reception site has for any outside caterers, which don’t apply to their “preferred” caterers. Some of my favorites are:

• Caterer must supply a $500 check as a deposit, which will not be deposited unless damages are discovered after the event.
• Dishwasher is reserved for washing glasses, and any other Chateau Polonez supplied items. This will be taken care of by a Chateau Polonez employee.
• Floors and counter tops need to be cleaned, mopped, and wiped dry.
• Kitchen should not be used to cook the entire meal. It may be used for rehaeating, and items needed to be cooked fresh.
• Caterer may use kitchen equipment for reheating, etc. Do not use equipment if you do not know how to use it. All equipment is powered by gas. DO NOT BLOW OUT THE PILOT LIGHTS!!!!
• We assume you are a complete idiot. Please do not use anything in the kitchen that might be of actual use to you. Even though your client is paying us an additional $1500, none of that fee is allocated to the cleaning of the kitchen, please let us know when you are done scrubbing the grout.

No, that last bullet wasn’t actually in the contract, but it did bring up another point about which I can get indignant – over the time span of 4 weeks, they increased the outside catering fee by $300. I’m not entirely sure it is not a scam, but if it happens again, I’ll sic my lawyer fiancé on them.I gave the requirements sheet to the caterer and asked her if she would mind faxing it to the reception site the Tuesday after the tasting (the reception site does not operate on Mondays). She readily agreed (she is so easy to work with).

I called the reception site manager on Tuesday to make sure that she had received the form, and to make sure that we were all set with our “alternative caterer” in that she had met the outside requirements.I received an email later that afternoon stating:“The approval process begins with the outside caterer arranging a meeting with me. The outside catering agreement in your packet was just a sample to you of our requirements of them. To become an approved caterer, xxx needs to call me and setup and Outside Catering Appointment before your due date of xxx. ”That’s funny, because I had initially requested that she sent me the requirements for outside caterers, and no mention of said appointment had been made.

I was irate; we had less than a week for the caterer to receive approval before our deadline. Dismal thoughts flew through my head. We were going to miss the deadline, I was going to have to deal with the difficult “default” caterer, AND pay her exorbitant prices. AAAAAAH.

I tried not to panic, and called my caterer to see if she would mind meeting with the site manager. She said she would call and set everything up (did I mention how easy she is to deal with?). A few hours later, she called to tell me that she had made an appointment for the next week, but that she had convinced the site manager to extend the deadline for the meeting. Hurray! I love my caterer! I’m going to name our first-born after her (not really, but it’s a nice sentiment, right?).